We must next decide what we mean by “retrogression.” The controlling law is clear—up to a point. “Retrogression, by definition, requires a comparison of a jurisdiction's new voting plan with its existing plan ... [citation omitted]. It also necessarily implies that the jurisdiction's existing plan is the benchmark....”
117 S.Ct. at 1497. Intervenor argues that to search for retrogression in a jurisdiction that has never elected a black person to its school board is a fool's errand, because “it would appear impossible to retrogress from zero.” Brief on remand of defendant-intervenors, at 35. But the test of retrogressive intent, in our view, need not depend on the number of black persons elected. The language of
Beer v. United States, 425 U.S. 130, 96 S.Ct. 1357, 47 L.Ed.2d 629 (1976), is just as applicable to the “purpose” inquiry as to the “effect” inquiry. Thus, a plan has an impermissible purpose under § 5 if it is intended to “lead to a retrogression in the position of racial minorities with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.”
Beer, 425 U.S. at 141, 96 S.Ct. at 1364. That test is broad enough to identify “retrogression” regardless of the outcome of an election, if (to imagine an example not present in this case) polling places were located so that they are less convenient to black voters than before the change, or if (for an example closer to the facts of this case) downward adjustments were made in the percentage of black voters in one or more districts.